North Korea is opening a beach resort. Yes, that North Korea.
On July 1, the regime will launch Wonsan Kalma, a long-delayed luxury coastal development that Kim Jong Un is touting as a tourism milestone. With waterslides, shopping malls, a water park, and a 2.5-mile stretch of manicured beach, the resort is designed to host 20,000 visitors a year—though right now, only North Koreans will be allowed to check in.
It’s the kind of leisure fantasy you’d expect from Dubai or the Maldives. Except this one comes with missile silos, surveillance, and the shadow of sanctions.
North Korea’s Tourism Push or Just Another Propaganda Play?
Wonsan isn’t just a beach town. It’s personal. Kim grew up vacationing in the area, which also hosted missile tests as recently as the 2010s. Now, with the blessing of state media, Wonsan has been scrubbed clean and reimagined as a “world-level tourist cultural resort” and “a brilliant reality,” according to Kim himself.
He even cut the ribbon at the opening alongside his wife Ri Sol Ju—making her first public appearance in months—and his daughter Kim Ju Ae, who many believe is being groomed as his successor. The family posed for photos poolside, as beachgoers slid down waterslides nearby.
But beyond the soft-focus propaganda, the resort is opening in one of the world’s poorest, most isolated nations. It’s a place where state-run hotels have no hot water, famine is an ongoing threat, and citizens are banned from even entering most tourist zones.
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The Real North Korea You Won’t See from the Sand
The resort’s glossy rollout comes as North Korea doubles down on its military alliance with Russia, supports the invasion of Ukraine with manpower, and reopens a direct train route between Pyongyang and Moscow. That’s not tourism—it’s geopolitics.
Critics argue that Wonsan is less about economic development and more about optics: a manufactured image of “normalcy” for elite insiders and foreign dignitaries. The state-run KCNA has called it a “great, auspicious event of the whole country,” but it’s also clear that most North Koreans—let alone most of the world—will never set foot there.
As one tour operator bluntly put it:
“This isn’t going to be a major draw for most Western tourists.”
Why Now—and Will It Work?
North Korea desperately needs cash. After years of sanctions and economic isolation made worse by pandemic-era border closures, the regime is looking for alternative sources of revenue—and tourism, even if limited, is a tempting outlet.
So far, only Russian tourists have been allowed in, and even that access is limited and murky. Some Westerners briefly crossed the border in February, only to be turned away weeks later without explanation. While state media promotes the opening as a “prelude to a new era,” most signs point to a closed loop of elite tourism designed for allies and loyalists—not a true opening to the world.
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Vacationing Under a Dictatorship
For the handful of travelers drawn to North Korea’s “niche appeal,” Wonsan might seem intriguing—luxury against the backdrop of a dictatorship. But the ethics of visiting a regime known for brutal repression, prison camps, and nuclear threats are complicated, if not outright bleak.
As Kim lounges beachside in a designer suit while his country starves, Wonsan stands as a monument to curated illusion. A glossy postcard from a regime that wants your money—but not your scrutiny.
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